Spotlight on Education

Here is a very proud co-owner of our little shop accepting his ICPF certificate at the ISFA spring conference.  Our very own Michael Barrett is now an Illinois Certified Professional Florist.  For those of you keeping score at home that gives The Secret Garden 3 ICPF florists and 1 Certified Balloonist!

We believe that being certified sets us apart from our competition.  It lets people know that we are experts in our field and that we can be trusted with their floral purchases.  

At The Secret Garden we also believe that attending classes and workshops is an important part of being a florist.  Just a few weeks ago we attended the ISFA florist convention in Springfield Illinois.  We took part in hands on classes, marketing workshops, and design shows.  Here are some shots of the guys and gals hard at work on a design during a workshop.

Carol working hard on her beautiful piece.  She is experimenting with new beading techniques.

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Believe it or not this was Amy's first time designing on her own.  She did an amazing job, even the instructors thought so!

 Michael practicing his new ICPF skills!

Smile Sheryl, yours look GREAT!  

All in all we had a great time with our teacher Jeff Corbin!  He got the blood flowing with his energetic attitude and lead us on a designing adventure.  

Now we get to put those new skills to use.  Look for a design similar to this one in April as our Arrangement of the Month!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

Illinois State Convention 2012

Each spring we travel to Springfield Illinois to attend the Illinois State Florist Association Convention.  This year we of course picked up some amazing inspiration!  Here is a slideshow showing some of the great things we saw!

And to end our weekend we saw an amazing show by Hitomi Gilliam you can see this album here.

We came home with loads of new ideas.  We enjoy meeting with other florists, sharing ideas, and being inspired!  

The Name Game

The Name Game

The Secret Garden introduces The Name Game!  This is a new twist on an old favorite that we have played here before.  Here is how we play:

• Every morning we will announce two names, one male & one female.  
• Anyone with that name has until 5pm to come into the shop and pick up their prize.  
• We will tell you that morning what the prize will be. 

The twist is this is for Facebook fans only.  We will no longer be putting the names on the sign out front.  Only people who "like" our page will be able to see the names we choose.  This is just another little perk you will get for following The Secret Garden on Facebook. 

We invite you to share our page with your friends and family.  If you see a name you recognize tell them to get over to The Secret Garden and pick up their gift!  We would love for you to share our page with them so they can join in on the fun too!

So let the games begin!

March Flower of The Month

The flower of the month for March is the Daffodil.  Now your daffodils may not look exactly like this one, some say that there are over 200 different species of daffodils out in the world today.   You may find that your daffodils are the best growers in your garden, you would be correct.  The bulbs will outlast just about any other bulb you plant.  Don't worry if you do not see new blooms on your fresh daffodil plants, sometimes they take up to 5 years to fully come into their glory.  And depending on where you live, these beauties can last anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months.  

But one thing you should know about your daffodil is that they do not play nice with other flowers when cut.  We store daffodils away from the other flowers and take special care if we use them with other flowers.    The sap in the stems will harm other flowers, guess it is their way to insure that they are center stage on your desk or table.   If you want to use cut daffodils in your arrangement be sure to cut the stems, let them sit in water for 10 - 15 minutes, and then add them to your bouquet.  

A little history on the daffodil ~ 

The Latin name for the daffodil, narcissus, has roots in Greek mythology. The Greeks called the flower narkisso because of its overpowering narcotic-like scent and they associated it with Hades.

The word narkisso also reminds of us of another Greek legend surrounding a god with a similar name. The God Narcissus was known for being so self-absorbed that he wasn’t interested in the love of the nymph Echo (who entered a cave and allowed herself to die because of her obsessive love). Later, Narcissus paused to gaze at his image in a stream. As he leaned closer to view it more clearly, he fell in and drowned. The gods placed flowers (narcissus) on the bank in remembrance of him.

Read more at Suite101: Birth Flower for March: The History and Language of the Daffodil | Suite101.com http://melissahoward.suite101.com/birth-flower-for-march-a41586#ixzz1ncXSJxZe